The hunger crisis in Gaza has reached new and astonishing levels of desperation, with a third of the population not eating for multiple days in a row, a senior official with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday.
Gaza’s population stands at roughly 2.1 million and earlier this year, food security experts warned that one in five people faces starvation.
Mr. Smith said WFP assessments show that a quarter of the population is facing famine-like conditions. Almost 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and need treatment as soon as possible.
Pointing to reports, he said “people are dying from lack of humanitarian assistance every day, and we are seeing this escalate day by day.”
He stressed that food assistance, and humanitarian assistance more broadly, are “the only solution at the moment” for Gaza.
Gaza: Guterres condemns killing of people seeking food as humanitarian conditions deteriorate
Stéphane Dujarric was speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters in New York a day after dozens of Palestinians were killed seeking food aid.
The hunger crisis in Gaza has reached new and astonishing levels of desperation, with a third of the population not eating for multiple days in a row, a senior official with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday.
news.un.org
He said the Secretary-General deplored the growing reports of both children and adults suffering from malnutrition and strongly condemned the ongoing violence, including the shooting, killing and injuring of people attempting to get food.
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Civilians must be protected and respected, and they must never be targeted,”